here at wdw we are still warm. i'm glad about that. but i'm worried about our pals in eastern europe.

once again a payment dispute between ukraine and russia's gazprom has led to a cut in delivery of earth gas through ukraine's pipeline. for those countries that have no reserve gas supply, like our friends in bulgaria, this means everybody is getting cold right now -- during a colder, snowier winter than europe has had for years.

marina says shterion has a fireplace so they should survive in pomorie for now. but the people in sofia have a real problem because so many buildings are powered by municipal heating that runs on gas. people start using electric heaters, which overloads the electrical grid. so the power authority threaten to ration electricity, by only supplying it periodically during the day.

subject to interpretation:

"oh, so the russians are like, blackmailing the ukrainians?"

"no, the ukrainians have been stealing it and not paying."

not subject to interpretation:

"i'm cold!"

also:

according to the tv news channels ... recently people in gaza started shooting rockets into israel again, on the excuse that israel had not lived up to its promises during the ceasefire. then israel started performing air strikes in gaza, and now they've moved in with tanks, splitting gaza into three. israel's govt says this is necessary for self defense, they want to make hamas stop firing rockets at them.

hundreds of people have been killed so far, but this hasn't stopped anyone from firing rockets into israel. the rocket attacks go on. so despite the relative sophistication of israeli military power, they have been ineffective in reaching their stated goal. some people think israel's real goal isn't the same as their stated goal. one gaza reporter told the dutch tv "they're shooting at everybody *except* hamas."

israel meanwhile says it has killed a lot of hamas fighters. i'm still not sure how they can tell that: are hamas fighters all dressed in uniforms, or do you have to give them a DNA test to tell what party they belong to?

as for the civilian casualties, israel says they are unavoidable in a situation like this. shame on hamas, they say, for firing their rockets from inside residential areas. i guess they would prefer hamas to fire their rockets from their clearly marked hamas air force missile bases.

what is clear: hamas isn't helping palestinians right now. and neither is israel.

subject to interpretation:

"we have a right to defend ourselves against missile attacks."

"okay but you're not doing that -- the missile attacks are still going on. you're mainly just punishing civilians."